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Hadn't ridden a bike since Italy a few weeks ago and was going through serious withdrawals. Surprisingly I found I had packed my MTB shoes and pedals. So I have hired a basic hardtail here in Malta for the week and went out for a spin.

Mix of various roads including some dirt - quite a few wrong turns and dead ends along the way but was great to roll the legs over again!

The old fortified city of Mdina

Saint Paul tal-Pitkali in Dingli

Dingli cliffs

Buskett gardens - ended up being turned around by soldiers and then ran a gauntlet of police road blocks on the way home due to the summit meeting of the Western Mediterranean Forum (the 5+5) being held at the Verdala Palace.

I thought that sentence may be easily misconstrued! In short, it is most certainly not my home. I live in a substantially more modest abode.

The house in the picture - Longleat House, however, belongs to the 7th Marquess of Bath. At least that is until recently, when he appears to have passed it on to his son. The estate is huge and the grounds of the House are a big tourist attraction because of the safari park. The Marquess is a kind of eccentric old hippy of the 60's, very liberal and by all accounts a very nice man - hence you can ride through the beautiful grounds. His son on the other hand appears to be a hard-nosed commercialist intent on making a profit out of every square inch of the estate. I fear it won't be long before the SUSTRANS licence agreement is terminated.

Purple trees? Perhaps. But purple clouds? So perhaps you had some kind of purple "enhancing" filter or funky color balance thing in the picture? Regardless, it looks cool - cooler than it would have been without the purple.

I thought that sentence may be easily misconstrued! In short, it is most certainly not my home. I live in a substantially more modest abode.

The house in the picture - Longleat House, however, belongs to the 7th Marquess of Bath. At least that is until recently, when he appears to have passed it on to his son. The estate is huge and the grounds of the House are a big tourist attraction because of the safari park. The Marquess is a kind of eccentric old hippy of the 60's, very liberal and by all accounts a very nice man - hence you can ride through the beautiful grounds. His son on the other hand appears to be a hard-nosed commercialist intent on making a profit out of every square inch of the estate. I fear it won't be long before the SUSTRANS licence agreement is terminated.

Thanks for the story. I've googled him - what a character !

About his sons, it looks like a bad "Midsomer Murders" scenario unfortunately.